HC greenlights Make in India for pesticide makers

In an important judgment, the Gujarat high court on Monday upheld the Centre's policy of relaxing norms for manufacturing insecticides by local players, by rejecting objections raised by importers and foreign firms. This may lead to a drastic cut in the cost of insecticides.

The high court order comes as a green signal for local manufactures to straight away produce insecticides and pesticides on the basis of technical data provided by foreign companies. The decision is expected to benefit farmers of India.

Importers and foreign companies had challenged the government’s guidelines formulated in 2015 as part of the ‘Make in India’ programme. These new norms withdraw three year’s protection to importers by barring local manufacturers from registering their products.

The importers’ counsel P Chidambaram had questioned the Centre’s policy of granting a level-playing field to local manufacturers on the basis of data of a product or a molecule and foreign companies which launched their products in India. The Centre, on the other hand, claimed that the foreign players did not have the locus standi to challenge the government’s decision at all.

According to assistant solicitor general Devang Vyas the high court has upheld the government’s view that the foreign companies are in no way affected by the decision.